harry reid saying it is republicans fault and somebody from boehner's office said harry reid has to talk less and legislate more. it is comical. it is simply comical what is going on. does it surprise you? >> sadly it does not surprise me too much. the truth is this. there has to be a bargain struck and not a good way to bargain to demonize the people you'll be sitting at the table with. harry reid called a speaker john boehner a dictator. republicans have fought that, they are not innocent in this. timtime to take down the verbal warfare and cut a deal sparing the fallout of the fiscal cliff. gerri: can we get anything with any meaning before the end of the year? >> not get your hopes up on a big deal on the debt. not too many tax increases, some will be in there. avoiding the sequester, the spending cuts, that is the best thing that could happen at this point and i'm pretty optimistic person, i get up every morning thinking good things will happen but this is causing me to drink every night so i did not know if i will get there or not. gerri: you glass half-full kind of guy. i hope you